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Definition of scare in English:

scare

verb

‘the rapid questions were designed to scare her into blurting out the truth’

‘Instilling a feeling of insecurity is the best way to scare your population into submission and frighten away potential investors.’

‘I realized I must look rather intimidating so I relaxed and laughed so as not to scare everyone further.’

‘But the upper class is scared stiff of his rise, and plots to foil his attempts through fraud.’

‘We humans love to scare ourselves, but rarely do our worst fears come to be - partly because we worry so much.’

‘They are scared stiff of what other people think, who in turn are scared stiff of what they think.’

‘Some are scared stiff of losing their work, others are pressured by family members not to complain.’

‘A masculine voice inquired from somewhere to her left, effectively scaring the living daylights out of Sydney and drawing a startled yelp from her lips.’

‘I had never been scared by wind before and I was shocked to have found this fear.’

‘The man says he is convinced that they were large, non-native cats and said he was shocked and scared by the confrontation.’

‘She was wasting her time, trying to scare an already badly frightened man.’

‘I know guys are supposed to be driven by their hormones at this age, but Eros was really, really scaring me with how driven he actually was.’

‘Shock and awe rested, it was argued, ultimately on the ability to ‘frighten, scare, intimidate and disarm’.’

‘A brave businesswoman who is scared stiff of sharks is set to take the charity plunge into a tank full of the fearsome fish.’

‘The biggest fear was one that could easily happen and was what scared them most!’

‘He took a couple steps forward and thrust out with his sword, hoping to intimidate them or scare them away.’

‘This news really scared the other animals and panic was starting to grip them.’

‘The word alone creates fear, and by now almost anything manages to scare a lot of Americans.’

‘I suspect from the amount of screaming she did (the nurses closed the door for fear she would scare the other patients) that it hurt.’

‘With every corner she turned she had to fly past another guard, and with every door she opened another alarm would sound and scare her out of her wits.’

‘If the cow gets too close to the fence co-ordinates, the collar will make a noise, or give the cow an electric shock to scare it away.’

frighten, make afraid, make fearful, make nervous, panic, throw into a panic

terrify, petrify, frighten to death, scare to death, frighten someone out of their wits, scare someone out of their wits, scare stiff, scare witless, frighten the living daylights out of, scare the living daylights out of, frighten the life out of, scare the life out of, scare the hell out of, strike terror into, fill with fear, put the fear of god into, make someone's hair stand on end, give someone goose pimples, make someone's blood run cold, chill someone's blood, send into a cold sweat, make someone shake in their shoes

‘When someone opens the door it hits the door jam and sets off an alarm that will scare them away and wake you up.’

‘Surly it must have been scared off by something, but what can frighten an animal that size?’

‘The reason for the low turnout could be that the authorities' tough approach scared people away.’

‘I think she decided what she wanted, and she wasn't going to get scared off too easily.’

‘The Tories were so keen to push ahead with the float that they failed to order a full inventory of the company's assets, fearing this would scare off investors.’

‘Mel isn't easily scared off by that and accepts the invitation to fight the man.’

‘Kira is credited with scaring off the intruder and saving her mother's life by phoning the police and ambulance and attending to Diane's wounds.’

‘American moviemakers and studio executives have always been slower to respond to social unrest, perhaps out of fear that controversy will scare away audiences.’

‘We're trying to be cautious about not discriminating, not scaring away patients that need care, and yet getting care and getting funding to the hospitals.’

‘However, by the time his application was dealt with, more than six weeks later, the eggs had become chicks and, short of seeing them starve to death by scaring away their mother, he was powerless to act.’

‘It's hard not to feel smug pleasure on hearing that Cornish authorities went so overboard on black propaganda about eclipse chaos that some now regret scaring off any possible lucrative visitors.’

‘The new bill is scaring off other new investment, too.’

‘I'd wanted it to scare him off, send him fleeing back to wherever he'd come from.’

‘Grey-headed sparrows are relatively nervous birds and if you scare them away a few times they will go off and look elsewhere for a nest site.’

‘Talking the dollar down is easy enough, but the strategy depends on a smooth descent that boosts US growth without scaring off the overseas investors who fund the twin deficits.’

‘I think their behaviour has been scaring people away from the lagoon.’

1.1[usually with modifier]A situation characterized by sudden alarm or anxiety about something.

‘recent food scares have made the public rightly sensitive to new, apparently untested technologies’

‘she has been given the all-clear after a breast cancer scare’

‘She was upset at having been implicated in causing a food scare and described the report as "absolute nonsense".’

‘The number of food scares over recent years has not only made the consumer more aware of what they eat, but also where they eat.’

‘He says talking publicly about his own cancer scare helped him get through it.’

‘A tourist caused a security scare when he deliberately left his bag of dirty washing on a plane which brought him home from Ibiza.’

‘The recent mad cow crisis is only the latest in a series of food scares that have driven consumers to demand more precise food labeling regulations.’

‘The move follows a scare on May 11, when authorities ordered workers to evacuate several federal buildings.’

‘Many of those who gave up beef following the BSE scare have gone back to eating organic beef.’

‘The recent scare over Scottish salmon highlighted the need for the highest standards in production.’

‘Despite recent scares, online banking is still on the rise.’

‘She has resumed official duties after 20 days of medical leave following a cancer scare.’

‘A year of financial crises, political scandal and swine flu scares have battered national confidence.’

‘The lake, which was closed due to bacteria scares in January 2002, faces a new crisis as low water levels threaten to close the recreational spot in the middle of the skiing season.’

‘Three years later, in 1957, America went through one of its biggest nuclear scares.’

‘Thousands of mini-buses are likely to be recalled by manufacturers Mercedes-Benz after a crash in Greater Manchester triggered a safety scare.’

‘In Germany, the food scare has sparked an about-face on agricultural policy.’

‘Nearly every year a frost scare occurs in the grain market.’

‘One of the reasons why people need to be taught how to use the computer properly is that there have been some recent scares about internet security.’

‘Commuters travelling on London Underground services last night were facing further disruption in the wake of the terror attacks and security scares.’

‘A major pollution scare was sparked off in York after dead fish were found floating in the River Foss.’

‘Recent food scares have made the public sensitive to new, apparently untested technologies.’

Phrasal Verbs

scare something up

Manage to find or obtain something.

‘for a price, the box office can usually scare up a pair of tickets’

‘And each was a special customer, and he was determined to serve their needs and he would see if he couldn't scare something up.’

‘My guess is it might take time to scare something up though, since a lot of these ladies are the bubble bath and satin and roses and hot air balloon ride types - big dreamers with dashed hopes, I guess.’